UCL students left furious as music blasts through ExCel centre during exam

UCL students were left annoyed after loud music blaring out of the ExCel speaker system disrupted their exam.

The interruption took place yesterday afternoon and affected over 2,000 students who were in the hall sitting exams.

The music lasted for around six minutes and no explanation or apology was given by the invigilators.

The Tab London has not been able to identify the song but according to students in the exam hall it sounded like a hymn. One student said "it was definitely holy."

It's the latest in a series of mishaps to fall upon UCL students this exam season. Students have been set unanswerable questions and given two hour resits after failing to receive their formula books.

Annie Hobden a final year Human Sciences Student, was in the exam and told the Tab London: "That the music yesterday was an absolute joke. The conditions at ExCel were incredibly disruptive and completely unacceptable."

The music came from another hall in the Excel centre but it was so loud that all the students in the hall heard it.

Hattie Lowe, a 3rd year, Human Sciences Student, told the Tab London that the music was "actually really distracting" and "frustrating."

Hattie explained that she was trying to answer a very difficult question on her Acute and Chronic Infections disease paper when the music came on and that "the music just added to the stress."

She says no announcement was made by the invigilators to explain the situation.

Hattie told the Tab that she found the invigilators' apparent lack of response frustrating. She said "I was so mad that they just carried on it, like it was fine. So many people were like WTF."

"They made no announcements or anything. Literally nothing."

Annie told the Tab that she too was frustrated by the inaction of the invigilators. "I have been at UCL for five years and have taken my fair share of exams, but I have never encountered anything like this," she said.

Annie explained that along with the music, students also had to contend with very noisy warning announcements which were "distracting" and the "noise of planes flying overhead" which "was un-ideal."

She added: "This was my final exam and I am very disappointed that this was my last experience as a student at UCL."

A spokesperson for UCL told the Tab London that "UCL works closely with ExCel to ensure we offer students the best possible environment to take their exams in."

The spokesman explained that a PA system was being tested in another hall and that as soon as the invigilators detected the music they "immediately spoke to the venue managers who shut down the source of the music within around six minutes."

He added that UCL "sincerely apologise for the disruption."

The Tab London has contacted ExCel for a comment, but as of the time of publication they have not responded.

In emails to students, staff at UCL have acknowledged that they have received a large number complaints from students about the exam conditions in ExCel.

If any of your exams have had issues let us know by messaging The Tab London.